Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: rydath on July 26, 2006, 07:18:57 am

Title: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on July 26, 2006, 07:18:57 am
Hey, I know it's probably too late, but I just noticed the KoS thing yesterday, and making my own fighting game char has always been a dream of mine. Now that I have an excuse, I decided to make a self pix-trait.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/rydath.png)(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/rydath4.png)

Maybe someone could give me some advice to help clean this up and make it cooler? I especially need help with the weapon. It's supposed to be a katana-ish sword wrapped up in newspapers, but newspaper isn't my friend aparantly.

Also, how does one do transparancy?
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: flaber on July 26, 2006, 07:33:20 am
it would help to attach the image
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Conzeit on July 26, 2006, 07:40:06 am
he's hotlinking from devianart, that's why it wont show up.

You probably should edit your post so that it doesnt display the image from devianart directly as soon as posible, as far as I know they dont like to get hotlinked, they might want to ban you or something

try another host, like Photobucket.com the one I use
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on July 26, 2006, 07:45:57 am
Thanks, Photobucketing now. Had no clue deviantart didn't like that sorta thing. :-[
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Gnarf on July 27, 2006, 12:05:48 am
The colors look quite messy, as if they weren't pixeled, and a lot of the lines are jaggy.  The color choice itself, however, isn't bad IMO.  You need to go back and clean up and straighten the lines.  The jaggies should be more of a consistant shape too.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: ptoing on July 27, 2006, 02:01:03 am
Good start, but needs lots of cleaning. The newspaper looks like a wrung towel to me! TOWELSHIP! Someone should make a fighter game with towelwhips!
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Gnarf on July 27, 2006, 02:05:46 am
Forgot to add. You asked about transparency, and the way I do it is by using the magic eraser tool in Photoshop.  Although, as you can see by my avatar, it doesn't always work.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on July 27, 2006, 05:21:20 am
Thanks Gnarf, I'll use someone's photoshop when I get the chance. After taking some time away from the pixels and coming back, I really realized how ugly and careless everything was. I've started fixing the pants, and I'm still deciding if I like the brighter green jacket more or less. I still don't really know how to make it look less jaggedy, though. I should probably look at some of the AA tuts.

Heh. It really does look like a giant wet towel of doom right now, ptoing. I would totally play versus mode in a wet-towel fighter. Still, I do look more like a bum than a shower-jock, so newspaper-wrapped sword(s) mine will remain (or try to become, rather). I have alot of fun moves in mind for that sneaky little piece of trash, anyways, and it's also got the added benefit of an inside joke among some friends.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Gnarf on July 27, 2006, 05:29:36 am
That looks much better now.  One thing that bothers me, though, are the low lights on the shirt.  They're a bit too dark but I think that could be fixed with proper AA.   Everything else looks great, except I noticed a loose pixel on his head...not sure what it's for.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Conzeit on July 28, 2006, 07:00:45 am
I like the character, he has some anime influences yet he's not the typical bandana hero type guy.

I can see you have some notion of how KOF shading works from the folds on the bent knee, but you're still doing things way too scribbly.I like the jagged attitude on the character, but not the jagged edges on the outlines =p clean your details, you have a lot of little dots here and there that dont really have a reason to be there, and I'm pretty sure you're doing them for a fake sense of detail, study more folds on clothing and be sure exactly why and where folds come up, then according to that make clear lines that state that whitout so much noise (unnecesary information)

your lines are too wiggly, be sure of exactly where your curves are going and make the curves smoothly follow whatever idea you're after.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on December 24, 2006, 09:21:15 pm
Hey, is it still grave digging if it's your own topic? I really didn't feel like making a new thread for the same character, even if it has been an eternity. And thanks to all who helped me before, I really appreciate it, and i think I'm improving (Though i can't do large scale pixel art to save my life, still).

(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/rydathidle.jpg)
Anyways, I reduced it's color to 256 color mode. It reduced it's contrast, but maybe to more reasonable levels. What i really came to ask for help about was this fan-slap animation, though.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/jabanimations.gif)

I was pretty lazy, and every frame is still pretty WIP, but overall he's way too static. What parts of his body should be moving? I was thinking that shifting his forward leg a tad would help, but I'd really appreciate some advice.

P.S. Merry Christmas, all.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: GOODNIGHTdestroyer on December 24, 2006, 09:23:17 pm
i thought he was holding the hilt of the katana.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on December 24, 2006, 09:29:17 pm
I like bizzare and somewhat confusing characters, (probably caused by my obsession with Guilty gear) so sometimes it's a katana, sometimes it's two katana's, sometimes it's just newspaper. It's a major reason why his weapon is held behind his back. If folks can go around shooting fireballs and stabbing people with their hair, surely I can do some creative combat origami. ;)
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: shaheen on December 25, 2006, 02:02:59 am
Hm. I think the animation looks pretty cool and fluid so far, however, if you're looking for a way to make it look more natural, there's only one source to go to and that's nature itself. I think you should just try and observe what the rest of your body does in that pose while doing that motion. For me, my head slightly shifts backward and away from the force of the hit's motion.

Hope you find some answers through that.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Akzidenz on December 25, 2006, 07:17:15 pm
I thought he was holding a Wii-mote with the nunchuck attached. :)
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on December 25, 2006, 08:24:24 pm
Khris: I'm trying your suggestion, but i can't get it to look right without shifting his whole body back with his head. I'll post what I'm getting when it ceases to be an ugly chicken dance.  :-[

Akzidenz: I was but, not in the sprite.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: shaheen on December 26, 2006, 08:05:23 am
Well, here's my attempt at an edit for this:
(http://cross-changer.net/khris/images/jabanimations3.gif)

Pretty much what I did was move the head and upper body back a tad bit, and from there I moved the other arm forward, similar to what the jacket is doing. The timing could use some work, but I think it's alright for the most part. I couldn't really get the tiny bit of motion that happens in the legs to look right, so I can't help you out there. Hope this helps.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: Helm on December 26, 2006, 08:09:28 am
I'm surprized nobody has picked up on this yet, the sprite is off his center of gravity from the beginning of this thread. He's leaning backwards and is unsupported for that extent. I suggest you pull the chest a few pixels forward and provide more support with the fore leg, by moving it back a significant amount.
Title: Re: Newbie wants to KoS too!
Post by: rydath on December 26, 2006, 08:41:01 pm
Well, here's my attempt at an edit for this:
(http://cross-changer.net/khris/images/jabanimations3.gif)

Pretty much what I did was move the head and upper body back a tad bit, and from there I moved the other arm forward, similar to what the jacket is doing. The timing could use some work, but I think it's alright for the most part. I couldn't really get the tiny bit of motion that happens in the legs to look right, so I can't help you out there. Hope this helps.
Wow, that really does help.  :D You don't even really notice how static the legs are when the rest of the upper body is moving like that. I'll work on cleaning up my own version, now. I sincerely thank you for that illustration!

I'm surprized nobody has picked up on this yet, the sprite is off his center of gravity from the beginning of this thread. He's leaning backwards and is unsupported for that extent. I suggest you pull the chest a few pixels forward and provide more support with the fore leg, by moving it back a significant amount.

(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/rydathidleedit.jpg) So, you think somthing more like this? (rough edit)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h43/Pazuzumaki/rydathidle.jpg) rather than this?

Despite what I know about it being good to keep your stance balanced in actual fighting, I rather like this position with all the weight on the back leg that I'm using. If what your saying is that he should be falling over, I disagree. I often stand in that position to see what moves can be done from there and where the weight shifts when you do such (though I admit it is difficult for me to see what i look like when I'm doing it without a mirror, or even with one when one's present). But, if you (or others out there, for that matter) really think it just looks 'wrong', I'm still open for potential changes. After all, this is my first semi-completed animation (and I mean ever, not just for the character ;P), so it's better to change now before I get to far along in my other WiPs for this char.